SD CoD:WaW Might be More Profitable than HD Version.

[mike_intellivision]

Just some thoughts

We don't know what the development costs are/were. We don't know how easy/costly it is to port. All we have are some blanket statements regarding development costs, often put forth by the developers themselves for reasons unknown as well as estimated development costs for a smattering of games (generally high-end experiences). We also do not have data for costs that may be more equal among different types of consoles: manufacturing, distribution, advertising, etc.

From this, the general consensus is that Wii development is less expensive than development for the PS3 or Xbox 360 -- based upon "cold room" scenarios (starting from scratch). Various estimates have put that at between 1/2 and 1/4 the cost.

We do not know the pre-existing costs/assets for this title. It did not create an engine from scratch. So the use of existing technology may have reduced the development costs. Similarly, the process of porting a game from System A to System B is thought to be cheaper because of the presence of some elements that can be reused in different versions. However, whether the degree this applied in both parallel ports (HD to HD) and down-ports (HD to SD) is not known. In other words, porting may not always be as easy as porting is thought to be.

Thus, any calculation of IRR or ROI is based upon a set of assumptions. And you do know what happens when you assume (you make an ass out of you and me).

But the take home point is that there is money to be made -- profit -- by releasing Wii versions of what have traditionally been considered core games for HD consoles/computers/unit. But the IPs have to be known and the games have to be good.

How much profit is unknown -- and may be tough to calculate since companies may choose methods to report their costs in ways that do not accurately reflect reality as we may perceive it. (I am thinking the company spreads the cost of game engine acquisition over all consoles equally, even though they are only using one console as the base for development activity and then creating ports).

So companies should do games for the Wii that they heretofore did not think of as "Wii--appropriate." Because if done right, it can help their bottom line.

Mike from Morgantown

Disclaimer -- I dropped public finance when in graduate school because I could not understand the material the way it was being presented. I later learned that I should not have taken the course from that prof because he was not very good. But by then, it was too late to take the course again and did some reading on my own -- particularly as things applied to the public sector. So while I get the concepts, I do not necessarily know how to do the calculations without looking it up in a book.